EU-Beitrag:

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Finanzierungsprogramm:

MC-IRG - International Re-integration Grants (IRG)

Ziel

The familiar rules of thermodynamics governing large systems in equilibrium do not apply in the small non-equilibrium world. The second law, which specifies that the entropy of an isolated system increases in a spontaneous process, is true only on average. The fluctuation theorem specifies the probability of fluctuations that cause a system to become more ordered, a probability that is observable if a system is sufficiently small. Can the fluctuation theorem reveal something about the efficiency of small systems in the non-equilibrium regime? Can the ideas of finite time and stochastic thermodynamics be used to establish new universal results? These questions will be addressed for mechanical and chemical transport in the classical regime and, most importantly, for transport properties in the quantum regime. The focus will include transport via nanodevices, and the microscopic description of a chemically driven Brownian motors and Brownian pumps. In the quantum regime the foci include transport of particles through quantum dots and the relation of the fluctuation theorem to the theory of quantum measurement.